Definition

1. Noun:

   • Official permission: A formal (usually written) authorization from an authority to do something.
   • Excessive freedom: A state of excessive or undisciplined freedom, lacking due restraint.
   • A legal document: A document that serves as proof of official permission to do something.

2. Verb:

   • To grant official permission: To give formal authorization, typically by issuing a document.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • You need a license to operate a television station.
  • The newspaper article was criticized for its license in reporting private details.
  • He showed his driver's license to the police officer.

• Verb:

  • The state will license the new pharmacy next week.
  • She is licensed to practice medicine in three countries.

Advanced Usage

• Poetic/Artistic License: The freedom to deviate from facts, rules, or conventions for creative effect.

  • The director took some license with the historical timeline to make the film more dramatic.

• Under License: Operating with permission from a patent or copyright holder.

  • The toy is manufactured under license from the film studio.

Variants and Related Words

• Licence: The British English spelling for the noun form. The verb is typically spelled "license" in both American and British English.
• Licensor (n): A person or organization that grants a license.
• Licensee (n): A person or organization that holds a license.
• Licensable (adj): Able to be licensed.

Synonyms

• Noun (Permission): Permit, authorization, certification.
• Noun (Freedom): Liberty, freedom, latitude.
• Verb: Authorize, certify, permit, sanction.

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

• License out: To grant a license for someone else to use one's property, such as a patent or trademark.
  • The company decided to license out its software to other developers.

Related Idioms

• A license to print money: Used to describe a business or activity that is extremely profitable, often implying it requires little effort.
  • That government contract is practically a license to print money.
• License to kill: Literal or figurative permission to act without the usual consequences, often with destructive intent.
  • Some critics argue that the new policy gives police license to kill.

Noun

1. the act of giving a formal (usually written) authorization
2. excessive freedom; lack of due restraint
   • when liberty becomes license dictatorship is near- Will Durant
   • the intolerable license with which the newspapers break...the rules of decorum- Edmund Burke
3. freedom to deviate deliberately from normally applicable rules or practices (especially in behavior or speech)
4. a legal document giving official permission to do something

Verb

1. authorize officially
   • I am licensed to practice law in this state